Even though Project Manager Angelique Rajski Parashis has worked with the Power and Energy Society of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers for five years, she still gets a little starstruck at times.

The society runs the IEEE Smart Grid initiative, which brings together 14 IEEE organizational units to reach a shared goal of improving the world’s power systems. Experts and industry leaders in computing, control systems, electrical insulation, instrumentation, electronics, signal processing, and vehicular technology collaborate and share information to develop standards, publications, and educational opportunities. To read this article in full, click here.

IEEE CyberSecurity Report: Building Code for Power System Software Security

August 4, 2017

In November 2016, IEEE Smart Grid was proud to host a workshop with IEEE Cyber Security Initiative and IEEE Power & Energy Society, with participation from UIUC’s Information Trust Institute entitled the IEEE Invitational Workshop to Create a Building Code for Building Code for Power System Software Security: (BC)2 Power at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign .

The purpose of the workshop was (1) to establish an initial consensus among industry and academic participants on the appropriate components of a “building code” that would be appropriate to reduce significantly the vulnerability of cyber components of electric grids to malicious attacks, and (2) to establish a research agenda for the creation of evidence that could justify the inclusion of additional elements in such a code.

Both the attractiveness of power systems as targets of cyberattack and their vulnerability to remote attack via digital networks has been made clear by recent world events. While policy makers seek means to deter such attacks politically, surely the most effective way to reduce their attractiveness as targets is to reduce their vulnerability to such attacks. The results of the workshop presented here have the objective of reducing the vulnerability of future power systems to remote attacks that exploit vulnerabilities in the code – software or firmware – that controls their operation.

Please feel free to read the output report from the workshop entitled "Building Code for Power System Software Security" authored by Carl E. Landwehr and Alfonso Valdes.

Big Challenges for Big Data in the Smart Grid Era

ECN MagazineApril 4, 2017

Dr. Mahmoud Daneshmand, member of the IEEE Big Data Initiative Steering Committee and professor at Stevens Institute of Technology, and Dr. Kenneth J. Lutz, IEEE Life Senior Member and adjunct professor at the University of Delaware, view the emergence of grid modernization as a core component in the future of big data. Plus, with the increase in distributed energy resources (DER), control over the grid's data is imperative. Dr. Daneshmand and Dr. Lutz summarize the strategies needed and the overall business case in confronting the challenges of big data in a smart grid era. To read this article in full, click here.

Conservation Voltage Reduction in Smart Microgrids

MicrogridKnowledge.comSeptember 14, 2016

IEEE Smart Grid member Ângela Paula Ferreira explains how smart microgrids use conservation voltage regulation (CVR) to reduce energy consumption. From the point of view of utilities, CVR implementation presents the opportunity for peak shaving and grid loss reduction, taking into consideration both transformers and distribution lines. On the other end, due to the reduced energy consumption, it may represent a loss of revenue, as occurs with many demand response programs. To read this article in full, click here.

The technological components of a “smart city,” including everything from smart grids and driverless cars to automated buildings and advanced sensors, can be complicated. But the core question behind the purpose of a smart city is quite simple: does it make human lives better? That’s the key theme explored in the webcast “The Connected City: Trends and Developments Driving Smart City Innovation,” produced by MIT Technology Review and IEEE Collabratec. Three influential subject matter experts with different backgrounds in developing smart cities delve into how these cities influence their human populations.

The stochastic nature of loads has been a major concern and a persistent challenge both for power system operators and the involved regulating authorities. However, the ever increasing penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) during the recent years has introduced additional factors of stochastic behavior, which affect severely the economics, the technical limits and the operating capability of the power system. Assuming on operator initiatives and/or stricter regulating frameworks implies that the deregulated energy market model will be inconsistent (conventional generators catering for stochastic sources) or that there will be (eventually) a roof to RES penetration. To read the full article, click here.

DER Penetration Challenges Dealt with DSO Deployment

Intelligent UtilityAugust 18, 2016

The increasing adoption of variable DERs challenges the traditional planning and operation practices of utility distribution systems. These systems have been traditionally radial and had single directional power flows and protection schemes, whereas with DERs, the power flows will become bi-directional and impact the circuit protection and control schemes. Like other utilities, ComEd is examining the potential of a DSO pilot implementation to investigate the relationship between DER deployments and DSO, as well as the potential DSO applications that can facilitate DER integration and benefit both end-use customers and the system. Similar to transmission system operators, the DSO would act as an independent aggregator by interfacing distributed generators and network owners and by managing a distributed generation market.

Beginning 1 October 2016, all IEEE Smart Grid content including videos, past webinars, interviews and archived newsletter articles will be removed from the Resources Page of the website. Members may locate this content on the newly developed IEEE Smart Grid Resource Center. In the future, you may visit the Resource Center, by clicking on the "Resource Center" icon above near our social media icons.

Anyone may browse the Resource Center, but access to the content will depend on one's IEEE membership status. In order to retrieve the content, members will be directed to "Sign In" in the top right hand corner of the page. You may use your IEEE credentials to sign in. If you are not an IEEE member, you may create an account. Once you have logged in, you will notice a three-tier pricing schedule to access the content:

If you are a member of one of the 14 partner organizational units of IEEE Smart Grid, the content on the IEEE Smart Grid Resource Center will be free to you.

If you are not a member of one of the 14 partner organizational units of IEEE Smart Grid, but you are an IEEE member, the content on the IEEE Smart Grid Resource Center will be at a discounted charge to you.

If you are not a member of one of the 14 partner organizational units and not a member of IEEE, you will be asked to pay a fee to access any of the content on the IEEE Smart Grid Resource Center OR you may create an account to browse the Resource Center and become a member of any of the 14 partner organizational units in order to retrieve the content at no cost to you.

Thank you for your continued interest in IEEE Smart Grid!

For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Angelique Rajski Parashis, Project Manager for IEEE Smart Grid, via e-mail at a.rajski@ieee.org.

NextBigFuture.com interviewed the chair of the IEEE Smart Grid Initiative, Dr. Massoud Amin, to discuss not only his professional accomplishments but also how the smart grid has evolved over his career. Dr. Amin answers questions related to infrastructure, how to create a self-healing grid, and how IEEE is addressing the transition to a smart grid.

​IEEE Invitational Workshop to Create ​a Building Code for Building Code for Power System Software Security: (BC)2 Power

November 16-18, 2016 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Purpose

The aim of this workshop is (1) to establish an initial consensus among industry and academic participants on the appropriate components of a “building code” that would be appropriate to reduce significantly the vulnerability of cyber components of electric grids to malicious attacks, and (2) to establish a research agenda for the creation of evidence that could justify the inclusion of additional elements in such a code. The workshop will be held under the auspices of the IEEE Cybersecurity Initiative, IEEE Smart Grid, and IEEE Power and Energy Society, with participation from UIUC’s Information Trust Institute; additional support is being sought from the NSF Secure and Trustworthy Cyberspace program.

The workshop proposal describing the scope, objectives, and the building code metaphor is included as an appendix to this call for contributions and participation.